VI THE SANDY BEACHES OF THE NORTHERN COAST WHAT a splendid series of resorts lie along the northern coast of Cornwall ! Take them in order as they come. St. Ives, Newquay, Padstow, and Bude, leaving aside for the moment the smaller ones, or those like Boscastle and Tintagel, which stand in a class by themselves and have been already referred to. All these four have certain characteristics in common but each has a distinct individuality. That is one of the charms of Corn- wall, nothing is cut to a pattern. By far the best- known is of course the first mentioned, St. Ives, with its splendid bays or " porths," with acres of firm sand, and its unrivalled golf-links at Lelant. It seems odd that a place should be able to face due east in Cornwall, yet somehow part of St. Ives manages to do it, that part of it which is on Porthminster Bay and is most favoured by visitors. The town is curiously placed, for the older part 92
